Successful Use of a Musculocutaneous Flap for Closure of a Large Elbow Mass Ablation

Abstract

A 10-year-old male Shiba dog was referred with a large mass around the elbow joint. Since the owner did not agree with the limb amputation, the mass was surgically removed with a wide margin and the resultant large skin defect was repaired using a musculocutaneous flap. Immediately after the surgical removal, orthovoltage irradiation (10 Gy) was conducted. Then the musculocutaneous flap was harvested using the latissimus dorsi muscle and sutured to the defect as an island flat pattern. The flap was successfully survived and the skin defect healed with some temporary erosion. The mass was histologically diagnosed as a soft tissue sarcoma, possible hemangiopericytoma, and no recurrence was observed 10 months after the surgery.